In the 1880s, twenty-year-old Catherine Jane Lynch attends the Central Mississippi Institute for Girls in French Camp. She is tricked by Professor Huerta, husband of Marie Laveau from New Orleans, into going to a voodoo ritual. Huerta has plans to kill her. Her mentally ill stepfather, Tom Lewis Lynch, escapes from prison to help her get away from Huerta. While hiding with her stepfather, Jane finds Confederate gold hidden in a tunnel near the cemetery. Now, everyone wants the gold.